Swing and a Miss: Deca Sports Freedom Hands-On Impressions

Bobby Rivera writes, "As Microsoft’s Kinect draws closer to its debut next month, the peripheral's launch titles have been receiving more and more exposure. Take Deca Sports Freedom, which was on display and available for play at this year's NYC Comic Con. Deca Sports Freedom is the 360 offering of the Hudson Soft developed sports games made famous on the Wii. The latest installment of the franchise will allow Xbox 360 Kinect users to pantomime 10 different sports: Tennis, Boxing, Archery, Paintball, Beach Volleyball, Dodge Ball, Kendo, Mogul Skiing, Snowboard Cross, and inexplicably Figure Skating. While the focus of Deca Sports Freedom is to infuse a new sense of immersion with the Kinect's motion-sensing capabilities, from what I experienced it actually detracted from game modes that played so smoothly with a standard Wiimote. And if the preview build is of any indication, then gamers just might want to find their athletics on a real-life playing field instead."

"The entire experience was just so dumbfounding that I truly wondered if I wasn’t participating in a demo, but simply watching a computer-controlled match. Even the representative wasn’t sure if the problems were related to the Kinect or to the game and to be honest, the problematic demo didn't bold well for either."

Funny that many of the Kinect games that "work" seem to have the impression that you are watching a computer controlled game - instead of actually playing the game.

It seems to be not nearly as accurate as the Wii - which brings up the question: Why is the Kinect which is a peripheral for the XB360 nearly cost as much as the Wii, and then offers far less?

Except for Dance Central have we even seen a positive game preview for a Kinect game yet?